G Ravikiran at Kanyaka Parameshwari Temple, 4th Feb 2008

sowmya · Post by **sowmya** » 05 Feb 2008, 07:06

Vocal : Vid. G Ravikiran
Violin : Vid. T S Krishnamurthy
Mridangam : Vid. B Dhruvaraj
Morching : Vid. Prasannakumar

Venue : Kanyaka Parameshwari Temple, Malleshwaram, Bangalore. 04-02-2008.

1. Manavyalagincharaa â€“ Nalinakanthi â€“ Adi â€“ Thyagaraja [S]
2. Apparaamabhakti â€“ Pantuvarali â€“ Roopaka â€“ Thyagaraja [N, S]
3. Geetaarthamu â€“ Suruti â€“ Adi â€“ Thyagaraja [R]
4. Vaachaamagocharame â€“ Kaikavashi â€“ Adi â€“ Thyagaraja
5. Upachaaramulanu â€“ Bhairavi â€“ Adi â€“ Thyagaraja [R, N, S, T]
6. Mandamatiyu naanu â€“ Valachi â€“ Khandachapu â€“ Purandaradasa [O]
7. Jagadoddhaarana â€“ Kapi â€“ Adi â€“ Purandaradasa
8. Tirupati venkataramana â€“ Sindhubhairavi â€“ Adi â€“ Purandaradasa
9. Taam taam [Tillana] â€“ Kamach â€“ Adi â€“ Patnam Subrahmanya Iyer

This concert was part of the annual Aradhana celebrations at this temple. He sang only Thyagaraja compositions in the first part, and Purandaradasa songs in the post-main section. An unconventional start with Nalinakanthi. The kriti was superbly rendered, and attached was a string of swaras, which Iâ€™ve always felt is his forte. He did several rounds of one-avartham swaras, followed by a long muktaya swaram. Apparamabhakti had a wonderful neraval at â€˜Lakshmidevi valachunaaâ€™, followed by some more second-speed swaras.

A tidy alapana of Suruti followed. Iâ€™ve not heard Geetaarthamu often in concerts. I was actually thinking of Angaarakam, before realising it was a Mondayâ€¦ Bhairavi alapana was ok. There was an involved neraval at the expected â€˜Kapatanaatakasootradhaariâ€™. It was very pretty. Then, he did another one-avartham exercise, in first speed swaras this time. After the tani, he sang some popular devaranamas, with correct pronounciation and bhava, and I enjoyed it immensely.

Violin was mostly good. But his Bhairavi alapana seemed a bit dull to me. Mridangam and Morching were both uncomfortably loud. Infact, the volume of the whole concert was on the louder side, probably in an effort to drown the external noise. It was actually painful at times. And to add to the woes of tani today, music from some other orchestra outside was streaming in.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 05 Feb 2008, 10:27

Sowmya,
A very nice review. You should be writing more, since the Bangalore season is buzzing!
G.Ravikiran has a very pleasing voice and he has chosen a good list of songs.
It is a joy to hear well pronounced words in any language!

Anusha · Post by **Anusha** » 05 Feb 2008, 12:04

I also attended this one and liked it very much. It was a lively
concert - both compositions and manodharma part were aptly presented. The best part that I liked about the concert, was the good grip over laya which Ravikiran displayed throughout.

Sowmya,
Thanks for sharing your views.Mandamatiyu naanu sounded somewhat like Janasammodini(Govinda ninna.. is the only song that I've heard in this) to me, esp. the lower octave phrases. I may well be wrong about this, being a mandamati that I am!
By mistake, you have typed Jagadanandakaaraka instead of Jagadoddharana. I ditto your comments on the audio. It must be really challenging for the artistes to perform in such
situations.

Naada Priya · Post by **Naada Priya** » 05 Feb 2008, 15:10

Apparently I missed a great concert. I had heard him once may be two years ago) in mysore...
He sings nicely. If I am not wrong, he is Dr RK srikhantan's student. The previous day,
RK padmanabhas concert was there. Fortunately I attended it. The most interesting piece was
Tyagaraja swamys (rare) Varashikhivaahana in Supradeepam...the swaraprastara was electrifying....
Yes its true that the acoustics is not good(cant really help as its in Malleswaram 8th cross...)

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 05 Feb 2008, 20:02

Naada Priya,
Ravi Kiran is also a student of T.M.Krishna.

sowmya · Post by **sowmya** » 05 Feb 2008, 21:07

arasi wrote:Sowmya,
A very nice review. You should be writing more, since the Bangalore season is buzzing!

Thanks!

Ya, The Bangalore music scene is really on fire. There are so many more concerts now than when I started listening a couple of years ago... There is some festival every other week...

Anusha wrote:By mistake, you have typed Jagadanandakaaraka instead of Jagadoddharana

Oops! Slip of the fingers?? :/ I've corrected it...

Anusha wrote:Mandamatiyu naanu sounded somewhat like Janasammodini(Govinda ninna.. is the only song that I've heard in this

Well, I certainly wouldn't be able to distinguish between them. When it comes to these lighter ragas, I'm a complete mandamati too

But I think I remember Ravikiran himself announcing the raga in a previous concert. He said it was tuned by his guru, T M Krishna...

Naada Priya wrote:If I am not wrong, he is Dr RK srikhantan's student.

Yeah. He is. Presently, He is also learning from T M Krishna..

Naada Priya wrote:The previous day,
RK padmanabhas concert was there. Fortunately I attended it. The most interesting piece was
Tyagaraja swamys (rare) Varashikhivaahana in Supradeepam...the swaraprastara was electrifying....

Sounds interesting. I went for something else... What else did RKP sing? I heard his main piece was also Ramakatha?

Anusha · Post by **Anusha** » 06 Feb 2008, 11:40

Thanks Sowmya for the clarification. Interestingly,
mandamati = manda+mati, also mandamati = mandam+ati. Both are befitting for me! I hope to be there for the Thursday and Friday concerts at 8th cross. We can try and meet if you are there as well.

sowmya · Post by **sowmya** » 07 Feb 2008, 11:06

I don't know. It is really difficult for me to attend concerts on weekdays. It is too far, and travel takes up so much of time...

Naada Priya · Post by **Naada Priya** » 07 Feb 2008, 11:32

sowmya wrote:Sounds interesting. I went for something else... What else did RKP sing? I heard his main piece was also Ramakatha?

He started off with Tapovidya - shlokam in poorvikalyani(the one found in his website). The varnam was of Darbar. Next to it was Varashikhi vaahana in supradeepam.There was no aalapana. But as I told, the swaraprastharam was electrifying. There were lots of frames in similar to jantiswaras. Those in higher notes had the clear prints of his manasa guru, semmangudi.
Then(upon someones request) he sang Mokshamugalada(vilamba). Soon after that Devadideva in Sundadvinodhine was sung. Then he sang a beautiful composition of Kanakadasa--"ee siriya nambi nee higgalu beda" set to Abhogi in Khanda Chapu.
The next one was a elaborate raagaalaapana in Naasikaabhushini. He told its Naasaavali in deekshithar sampradaayam.The composition was "Shree Ramaa Saraswathi".
It was followed by a brisk devaranama "Antharangadali Hariya" in Mohana.
Then it was an rare krithi of Deekshithar in Shuddhavasantha--"Somasundareshwaram". This remembered me of Raghuvamsha sudha. He was telling that if one does not sing and play it in an instrument, it would sound like an English band.
Then, the main piece came.. a short raagaalaapana followed by Taanam(interestingly along with mrudangam and ghatam..).. I afforded to stay till this section of the concert.

-Naada priya

mahesh3 · Post by **mahesh3** » 07 Feb 2008, 19:58

Are there other compositions in suddhavasantha? Which artists have sung these?

kssuresh · Post by **kssuresh** » 07 Feb 2008, 20:09

arasi wrote:Ravi Kiran is also a student of T.M.Krishna.

And he also anchors shows for Shruti on Worldspace. IIRC he does the very interesting 'colours of a raaga' on Friday evenings (9 pm - 11 pm)

sowmya · Post by **sowmya** » 08 Feb 2008, 16:55

Thanks Naadapriya, for the details! Seems to have been a nice list. I had heard an RTP in Naasikaabhushani once - From RKP himself. But never a kriti..
And I've not heard Shuddhavasantha either. As far as I could find out, Dikshitar's is the only composition in the raga..

Lakshman · Post by **Lakshman** » 08 Feb 2008, 17:47

A number of Annamacharya songs have been set to shuddhavasantA.